Archive Record
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Title |
Alvin Smith Interview |
Object Name |
Recording, Audio |
Audio Recording |
Click Here to play the Oral History Recording. |
Scope & Content |
Alvin L. Smith, HKP Interview Alvin L. Smith was interviewed by Susan Hardee Steger on July 14, 2022 at her residence on Lighthouse Circle in Fernandina Beach, FL. Mr. Smith is being interviewed on behalf of the Amelia Island Museum of History's Heritage Keepers Project. Assisting Susan is Bill Tilson who is operating the recording equipment. Susan began the interview by welcoming Alvin and asking him to tell his story. Alvin was born on November 17, 1932 on the corner of 5th and Beech Streets in Fernandina Beach. He was delivered by Dr. Loganhauser, one of only two doctors in Nassau County. He lived there until he was five or six years old then the family moved out to Florida Drive off Citrona Dr. where he lived until he joined the service and got married. Alvin tells the story of how his wife came to Fernandina as a teacher and he was trying to fix her up with a friend of his but they could never seem to get together. He decided he was wasting his time trying to get them together so he went ahead and asked her out. Alvin and his wife have been married for 65 years. Alvin's father came from St. Marys to Fernandina and worked as an engineer on a Pogy boat. He met his wife in Fernandina and they were married in 1924. Alvin has two sisters, Gloria and June and one brother, Johnny. Alvin and June are the only living siblings. Alvin says it's such a different world now than the one when he grew up in. He'd go downtown and knew everyone he saw. Friday and Saturday were the days when people would go downtown to shop; Piggly Wiggly, the barber shop. Women and children would stay in the cars while the fathers talked on the street corners. It was just a different world. He started school where the county offices are now located across from Central Park on Atlantic Ave. He began his schooling on the west side of the building which was grades 1-6; 7-8 grades were upstairs. Miss Graham was his first grade teacher and she would not put up with any foolishness, no nothing, she was very strict. She wouldn't spank students but she would pull their hand up and pop it with a ruler. Students knew better than to misbehave. Then there was Miss Clarice and Miss Johnson who taught 7-8 grade. They were great teachers and the students paid them great respect. He changed classrooms in 9th grade and had different teachers for chemistry, math and social studies. He attended school in that building from first grade through the twelfth grade. There were 32 students in his graduating class and Alvin says he's the only boy left from his graduating class that he knows of. Alvin used to keep in touch with one boy who moved up to Massachusetts. He used to hear from him every year but he hasn't heard anything in over a year and assumes he's no longer alive. Susan said she heard Alvin had an interesting walk to school when he was a youngster. He recalled Mrs. Finney who lived at the top of Citrona and had a Bulldog named Fernandina Jigs. All the kids had to walk by the dog to catch the bus to go to school. The dog never bothered anyone except for Alvin. The dog would stand there and GRRRRR! at Alvin and scare him to death; so scarred he'd run back home. Mrs. Finney would come over to their house and take him to school because he'd miss the bus. When asked about the movie theater downtown, Alvin said the theater was down on Centre Street where the Eight Flags Antique Store is now located. Next door to the theater was the Herring's house and next to that was a filling station. He used to go to the movies for a dime and get popcorn and coke for a nickel. Susan agreed when Alvin commented that times have changed. Back in the 30's the Fernandina Fire Department was made up of all volunteers. Mr. Decker was both the Chief of Police and the Fire Chief. When there was a fire in the town, a bell would ring from the courthouse and all the volunteer firemen would come down. They collected two dollars for each fire they fought. During the Depression somebody would slip up there and ring the bell so the firemen would run down there thinking there was a fire. There was no fire but the firemen still got paid two dollars because they showed up. Susan commented "those were tough times during the Depression" and Alvin agreed. When Alvin was young he said he never knew his family was poor until he "got grown" because everyone else was poor back during the Depression days. His father was an engineer on the Pogy boats and they didn't work all the time. They made it and like everyone else they were in the same boat. Susan commented "fish are always plentiful and people are always hungry". Susan asked Alvin about his recollection of his life during World War II. Alvin told a story about when he went to the movies with his friend, Jerry Miller and they were walking home and got to where the tennis courts are now located. All of a sudden, the sky lit up with big flames. Alvin was so scared and thought it was the end of the world! Come to find out a German sub sank a ship, not right off Fernandina but close enough where they could see the flames coming off the ship. Afterwards a lot of oil washed up on the beach and he remembers a dead Great Dane dog washed up as well. He never saw any bodies, just parts of the ship and lots of oil. The Coast Guard had a horse patrol that patrolled the beaches around Fernandina. They had horse stables where the Seaside Inn (Sliders) is now located along with stables out at Fort Clinch. Alvin worked on his Uncle's had a shrimp boat. The Coast Guard would inspect the boats and if you didn't have the appropriate papers stating you were a member of the crew, you'd be arrested. Alvin didn't have any papers so when the Coast Guard was in the area of the boat, he'd go down to the engine room until they passed. They knew his Uncle and they would let the boat pass without inspection. Alvin said they had blackout curtains on the shrimp boat. People also used to blackout half of their car's headlights and they couldn't drive with their headlights on at the beach. Everyone drove around town with ½ their headlights blacked out. There were gas rationing tickets on the car windows: A, B or C indicating the amount of gas that could be purchased per week. Meat was also rationed during the Depression but Alvin said he never recalled going hungry. Susan said Alvin was too young to participate in WWII but he did end up in the Navy in Korea. Alvin explained he finished high school and had a chance to try out for a football scholarship at a small college in North Georgia. When the War started he said he was going to enlist because he was scared of being drafted. "I'm going to join the Navy, why am I going to join the Navy?" he said, "I can walk a lot further than I can swim." He went to San Diego to train, then he went to Japan and caught a ship in Japan. Their ship was the second ship to fly into North Korea. Valley Forge was the first to launch an attack on North Korea. Most of his time in the Navy was spent on the West Coast of the United States . Alvin was discharged in 1953, came back to Fernandina, went to school then he went to work for Rayonier. He got married in 1957. Alvin says Rayonier was a good place to work in those days and assumes it's still a good place to work now. They paid good and had good insurance. Alvin tells the story of when a Russian ship came to the port during the Cold War to buy supplies from Rayonier. Alvin said "He didn't know what a Russian looked like and was surprised they looked pretty much like we did!" Alvin recalled the ship came into the Fernandina Harbor several times between 1954 and 1955. When asked about the small town characters he remembered living in Fernandina at the time, Alvin recalls several of them; "Pine-oh", a black fellow that could be seen downtown anytime of the day or night especially outside Allen's Department Store or Partin's Shoe Store. Pine-oh did not have a watch but could give you the time of day whenever you asked. And then there was Sarah Alice Broadbent that lived on an island just over the bridge. "Oh, she was a character" Alvin exclaimed and added he was scared to death of her as he could be of anybody." She wore a long white dress made out of flower sacks. She had a little island, (now called Crane Island) and she would walk all through the island, always carrying a croaker sack bag on her. One day he and his cousin looked through her bag when she stopped by to visit at his Aunt's house. They looked through the bag and found an old pair of blue pants and a pair of old grosgrain shoes which she changed into when she'd walk across the marsh during high tide. Sarah Alice would read Alvin and his cousin "the riot act" after catching them smoking. "If God wanted you to smoke he would have put a smokestack on you" she would say. She had a sister in Jacksonville and she had sister who lived in Fernandina, Miss Richardson. Sarah Alice was a character! Then there was "Six Toed Fred." He was tall and he had six toes on each foot. He cut his shoes out to accommodate the extra toe. Smiley Lee was a character; he was smart but he couldn't leave the alcohol alone. He was City Commissioner for a long time and a very good one. Trouble of it was he would drink too much before he got there and then after he got there then he'd go down to the Palace Saloon and get in a fight. He was highly intelligent and when he was sober he made a good City Commissioner. When asked what his impression is of Fernandina today, Alvin replied "too busy, too busy, too much traffic!" He remembers being out on 8th Street and if he saw two cars go by there in a day, he'd wonder where everyone was going, what are they doing and where they came from. Now it's a steady stream of cars. One time the bridge got knocked out and you couldn't go across to Yulee or Jacksonville. Mac Jenkins had a boat and he'd row people across the water where he had a bus where he'd drive people to Jacksonville. Then he bought a little two car ferry in before they got the bridge fixed back up. That was in about in 1945 or '46 when Alvin was around 12 or 13 years old. Susan asked Alvin if there was anything else he'd like to add. He immediately replied "It's a wonderful place to live. It's getting too crowded, but I don't blame anyone for coming here; it's a great place. You see all the riots, shootings and killings in other towns. We don't have that here - yet. I hope it never gets here. When I was growing up, nobody locked their house; we didn't even know where the front door key was. You just didn't worry about it then. But now you lock the doors and your car in middle of the day or night". Alvin said "Integration went over with no problems whatsoever. Everybody accepted everybody else. Of course this is a small town and you knew a lot of the blacks and a lot of the blacks knew who you were. He lived downtown and would play baseball in the streets with the black kids. They never fussed or anything and they were good athletes". And finally, Alvin tells the story of going to the Blue Seas Restaurant on Main Beach with his then pregnant wife. The service was terrible; couldn't get waited on, waited on, waited on. He finally told the waitress to tell the cook that his wife was fixing to have a baby and she wanted to see something to eat before she goes. They brought the food right out and the cook sent a dime out and said it was for the baby. His son still has that dime the cook gave him and he's 65 years old. Alvin said it was a great place to live back in the day! |
Object ID |
2022.012.008 |
Collection |
AIMH Heritage Keepers Project |
Caption |
Smith & Susan Steger |
Interview place |
Susan Steger's house |
Interviewer |
Susan Steger and Bill Tilson |
Length of Interview |
22:54 |
Narrator's name |
Alvin Smith |
Number of images |
1 |
People |
Smith, Alvin Smith, Alvin Leroy |
Search Terms |
Fernandina Beach Yulee Fernandina Beach High School World War II Fernandina Fire Department |
Subjects |
Fernandina Beach Yulee Fernandina Beach High School World War II Fernandina Fire Department |
Date |
07/14/2022 |